- Isaiah the prophet in fresco on the Sistine Chapel ceiling by Michelangelo
The prophets and their work
The Oxford English Dictionary, with
its eye on brevity and accuracy,
defines a prophet as: "One who
speaks for God as the inspired
revealer or interpreter of His will".
In the Hebrew text of the Old
Testament (OT) the word prophet
mostly refers to the function of
giving a message to the people under
the influence of the Spirit of God. In
this context the phrase "The word of
the LORD came to ..." or similar words
are mentioned many times. In the
New Testament (NT) the Greek word
literally means "one who speaks
forth". Among the pagan Greeks it
referred to an interpreter of the
oracles of the Greek gods.
Religious Prophets
An important difference between a
prophet and other religious officials
is that the prophet claims no
personal part in his utterances. He
does not speak his own mind, but a
revelation made to him. Although the
ability to prophesy is a gift from God,
it is not always welcomed. Jeremiah,
a prominent prophet in his time,
strove to resist the source of his
revelation until he was forced to
reveal what God wanted him to.
There have been occasions when God
spoke directly, without the use of a
prophet, for instance at the baptism
of Jesus Christ:
And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased”
The word prophet is used much more
frequently in the OT than in the NT
and is first used by God to describe
Abraham (Genesis 20.7).
This is the only reference to a
prophet in Genesis, but in Exodus we
begin to get a slightly deeper
understanding of the relationship
between God and His prophets. God
spoke to Moses as He prepared both
him and his brother Aaron to go
before Pharaoh: 'See, I have made you as God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet
In this instance the role of the
‘prophet’ was to be a spokesperson
who would carry the Word of God and
speak it, in this case, directly to the
person it was intended for.
Prophets of the Old Testament
Whilst a popular image of a prophet
is that of a grey haired and wise old
man, the truth is far different.
Samuel was a young lad when he was
called by the Lord to reveal His
judgement on Eli and his two sons for
profaning the House of God. And the
gift of prophecy was not restricted to
men only, there are women prophets
recorded in the Bible as well.
All the OT books from Isaiah to
Malachi describe the revelations that
these prophets made and are divided
into two sect ions. The major
prophets are Isaiah, Jeremiah,
Ezekiel and Daniel, whilst the last
section, the twelve minor prophets,
brings the Old Testament to a close.
The word minor refers in this
instance to the size of the written
work, not the importance of the
prophecy or the prophet.
The revealed prophecy is not always
welcomed by the one to whom it is
directed, often the king, but it can
also apply to a wayward people or a
nation. The role of a prophet can
involve danger and fear, as seen in
the case of Jonah. He was told by God
to go to Nineveh, in Assyria, and
cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before me
But fear of going to Nineveh, which had a
terrible reputation, was too much for
Jonah, and he fled in the opposite
direction. The ensuing account shows
the great mercy of the Lord, both in
sending His prophet Jonah to warn
the Ninevites, and in dealing with
Jonah’s reluctance to obey the Lord's command.
- The massive walls and gateway of Nineveh, the royal city of Israel’s enemies, the Assyrians.
- We can understand Jonah’s fear of venturing into the city.
This fearful reluctance of a few of
God’s prophets must not be confused
with the actions of false prophets.
The First Book of Kings describes in
great detail how Elijah confronted
King Ahab, who had led his people
into false worship: you have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and you have followed the Baals
The ensuing verses wonderfully
demonstrate the judgment and
power of the Lord, in dealing with the
false prophets of Baal.
Anyone who prophesied their own
thoughts, and implied that he was
speaking the word of the Lord was
committing a serious sin and God
dealt with such in a very severe
manner; the false prophets of Baal
were slaughtered. Much earlier the
Lord God spoke to Moses saying:
But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name, which I have notcommanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die
This was necessary so that the
spiritual purity of the people would
not be profaned.
Among the prophetesses of the Old
Testament, perhaps Miriam, the
sister of Moses and Aaron, is the
most well known. Miriam claimed
the LORD ‘had spoken’ through her
(Numbers 12.2). There were others;
- Deborah said to Barak Has not the LORD, the God of Israel commanded...? - Judges 4.6
- The prophetess Huldah in the same way uses the prophetic introductory formula: Thus says the LORD God of Israel ... - 2 Kings 22.15
Prophets of the New Testament
In the New Testament, Luke
describes Anna, a prophetess of the
tribe of Asher, seeing the infant
Jesus, whom his parents had brought
to the temple in Jerusalem:
And coming in that instant she gave thanks to the Lord, and spoke of him to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem.
John the Baptist is the first prophet
mentioned in the New Testament,
and it is a title given to him by Jesus.
Speaking about John the Baptist, he
asked the multitude what they
expected to see when they went out
into the wilderness. Jesus explained
that John was a prophet and more
than a prophet:
For this is he of whom it is written: “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you"
Here Jesus was quoting from
the words of Malachi, the last of the
Old Testament prophets.
The prophet like Moses
Jesus was the object of many Old
Testament prophecies. Moses spoke
to the people in the wilderness:
the LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear.
This prophecy was fulfilled by Jesus Christ.
There is no doubt that Jesus was the
greatest of the prophets. This was
affirmed by a Samaritan woman who,
when drawing water from a well, was
asked by Jesus for a drink. In the
ensuing conversation, Jesus revealed
that the woman in her past life had
five husbands and her current
partner was not her husband. At this
startling revelation she said:
Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet
- Talking to Jesus as she drew water from the well at Samaria
- This woman recognised him as a prophet
A little later Jesus travelled from
Samaria to Galilee and made the
observation that ‘a prophet has no
honour in his own country’ (John 4.44).
He was well received, but only
because the people had seen the
miracles he had done in Jerusalem,
prompting Jesus to comment:
Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe
What did Jesus prophecy about
himself? Jesus made several
predictions about his death and
resurrection, each with increasing
detail, as recorded in the Gospels. In
Luke we read about the parable of the
wicked vinedressers, told by Jesus
(Luke 20.9-12). A vineyard was leased
to some vinedressers. When the
owner sent His servants, that they
might have some of the harvest, they
were beaten and treated shamefully
and thrown out of the vineyard. In
the end he sent his son, but they
decided to murder him so that they
could inherit the vineyard
themselves. In this parable the
vineyard owner is God and the
servants were the prophets of the Old
Testament. The Son of course is Jesus
who, in the words of the parable,
prophesied his own death.
He also prophesied the
destruction of Jerusalem. The
role of the prophet in the
Old Testament was to
foretell the future and the
truths about God. Jesus
did both of these things.
But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. Then let those in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her. For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.
This destruction of Jerusalem took
place less than 40 years later in AD 70.
The most well-known prophecy that
Jesus made regarding himself, apart
from his own death and resurrection,
was his return to the earth to
establish God's kingdom, often
referred to as the 'second coming'. It
will be a time when all the evil and
corruption of this world will be done
away with, and peace and righteousness
will fill the earth. The
prophet Isaiah describes this wonderful
time in these words:
They (the nations) shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks.
Conclusion
Because a prophet is speaking the
words of God through divine
inspiration, it is important to hear
what the message says, to
understand it and most importantly
abide by it. The parables of Jesus
illustrate this very well, and what will
happen if these prophecies are ignored.
The greatest prophecy the world has
ever received is the Gospel message
concerning the coming kingdom of
God as foreseen by the prophets.
Jesus will set up this kingdom on his
return to the earth. It is our fervent
prayer that our readers, with us, will
be found ready and waiting for that
day, and be granted God’s great gift
of eternal life. To them, Jesus will
say:
Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
- Matthew 25.34
- Author Chris Farnworth
- Country Surrey, UK
- Source Light on a New World reprint from Volume 30.3
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